Yan'an City is the only pilotcity in the grain for green project in China .Since the project was implemented, the sustainable development of rural economy in Yan'an City has at tracted widespread at tention .In this study , analytic hierarchy process(AHP)is applied to evaluate the sustainable development of rural economy in the city .Results show that the grain for green project has promoted the sustainable development of rural economy in the city .The sustainable development degree for Yan'an City from 1998 to 2007 is between 0.5094 and 0.6051 .Although the level is in the general state of sustainable development , it is still in a rising trend.Sustainable state is gradually shifted from general state to a higher state .